Parks Library pictured in 1925 and again in 2017 from the southeast.

In the archive photo, the ISU library is under construction. Cranes are working on the building.

In the modern photo, the majority of the building is obscured by trees, however most of the original building is still visible.

Parks Library pictured in 1944 and again in 2017 from the northeast.

Students are walking in front of the building in both photos. In the modern photo, cars are parked on the left side.

Parks Library

Construction for the library finished in 1925. Prior to this, the library’s collection had previously been stored in Morrill Hall, present day Beardshear Hall (then called the Central Building) and the Old Main, which burned down in 1902.

Administration soon realized that this space was not large enough, but an addition would not occur until 1961. The library expanded west and primarily contained space for books, but had some study areas as well.

Two more additions came in 1969, which introduced the multi-tiered storage system, and the last in 1983. These additions expanded the library to both the north and west.

The addition in 1983, masterminded by President William Robert Parks and his wife Ellen, expanded the library by more than four times its original size.

The library was renamed to Parks Library in their honor in 1984.

William Parks was born in Tennessee in 1915. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Berea College, his master’s degree at the University of Kentucky and his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Parks performed research for the Bureau of Agricultural Economics from 1940 to 1948. During that time, he married his wife, Ellen Sorge. Sorge was the first woman to graduate with a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin.

Parks began his career in 1948 at Iowa State College as a professor of government. Parks taught for two years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as an agricultural economics professor before returning to Iowa State as the dean of instruction.

Parks maintained that position until he was promoted to vice president of academic affairs in 1961, and later president of Iowa State in 1965. Parks maintained this position until 1989. Ellen Parks died in 1999, and Robert in 2003.

These final photos illustrate some of the changes that have taken place in the interior. Pictured in 1999 before its renovation, and again in 2017 from the west side on the first floor. Most notably the carpet has changed, as well as the computers.